Exploiting TCP Vegas' algorithm to improve real-time multimedia applications

Computer-centered services and broadband wireless connectivity have boosted the demand for delivery of multimedia-based entertainment from the Internet to in-house wireless appliances. In this context, rich-media applications can be supported by a variety of protocols, each sharing the same bottleneck, affecting one another's performance. Indeed, in current systems, real-time applications (e.g., video streaming, online games) suffer from delays caused by the interference of elastic, best-effort (e.g., TCP-based download sessions) traffic. In this paper we propose a solution to this problem, addressed by deploying a Vegas-like congestion control algorithm at the home gateway, requiring no client-side modification.